Category Archives: Uncategorized

It was great to be part of the ASPI DC team hosting visiting MPs Sen O’Neill, Sen Patterson, Shadow Defence Minister the Hon. Andrew Hastie and Chair of the PJCIS Peter Khalil.

Groundhog Day in America is rooted in the folk traditions of the Pennsylvania Dutch, a distinctive immigrant community perhaps best known in this country via Peter Weir’s neo-noir thriller, Witness.  According to the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition, if a local ground hog or woodchuck emerges from its burrow on this particular day and sees its shadow,Continue reading “26 January is our Groundhog Day”

The speed with which the Taliban has been able to subdue the whole of Afghanistan has taken many (including the Taliban itself) by surprise.   Within days rather than months, the Taliban has translated victory in the provinces into unopposed entry into Kabul, the national capital and Government stronghold. Indeed, the Taliban’s early success clearly caughtContinue reading “Afghanistan: Australia is minor player in a much larger tragedy”

This afternoon (8 June) on Afternoon Agenda, myself, Virginia Hausegger, Prof. Amin Saikal and Kieran Gilbert discuss the Australian mission in Afghanistan 2001 to 2021 – and where to next for Afghanistan.

New Zealand and Australia are close neighbours.  Not physically (Auckland is over 2000km from Sydney), but culturally, historically and through the extensive family and personal relationships that stretch across the Tasman Sea and back again.   Over 600,000 New Zealanders live in Australia, 60,000 Australians in New Zealand and citizens of both countries enjoy almostContinue reading “Australia-New Zealand relations: a Chinese takeaway?”

In October last year we wrote “Although the [revamped] Quad group comprising these four Indo-Pacific partners is still quite new, its significance is growing rapidly, and the US clearly views this new strategic grouping through the lens of its broader strategic competition with China”.  In January this year we predicted that it would be oneContinue reading “In Quad We Trust”

During the second half of the 20th century, economic multilateralism was on the march with institutions like the World Bank, WTO and IMF overseeing ‘cooperative’ action on international trade and economics.  Even in the days of the Cold War and the ideological split that sat at its core, the West at least ran along railsContinue reading “Xi Jinping’s ‘Dual circulation theory’- what is it, and why does it matter?”

On the 4th of February, a little over two weeks after taking his Oath of Office, Joe Biden gave his first landmark speech on foreign policy as the 46th President of the United States.  There were a number of key departures from the policy approaches of his predecessor, and the President sought to bring togetherContinue reading “President Biden’s Foreign Policy”